The last[[note]]story-wise; it was the first one written[[/note]] of the Theban trilogy of plays by {{Sophocles}} (preceded by ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'' and ''Theatre/OedipusAtColonus''), ''Antigone'' follows the fate of one of Oedipus' daughters, born of his incestuous relationship with his mother.

The play starts with Antigone bringing her sister, Ismene, terrible news. Between the end of ''Oedipus at Colonus'' and the start of ''Antigone'', their brother, Polynices led an army against Eteocles for the right to inherit their father's throne. The brothers took each other's lives. This was chronicled in the play ''Theatre/TheProgeny''; [[MissingEpisode sadly, only a single exchange from that play survives]]. It can be read [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Progeny here]]. Antigone's uncle, Creon, now undisputed master of Thebes once more, has ordered that Polynices' body be put on display as a traitor. Antigone asks her sister to help her bury their brother properly, but Ismene refuses, and Antigone does it by herself.

Unfortunately, she is caught, and Creon orders her walled up in a cave to die. Despite warnings from both the Chorus and the seer Tiresias that leaving the dead unburied will have terrible consequences, it is not until Tiresias predicts that Creon's family will suffer and armies will march against Thebes that he relents. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, he's too late, as the time spent burying the body prevented Creon reaching Antigone before she hanged herself. Seeing he was too late, Haemon, her fiancÚ and Creon's son, stabbed himself, and when THAT news reached his mother, Eurydice, she stabbed herself too. The play ends with Creon leaving the stage a broken man.]]

Also the name of a 1944 existential play by French playwright Jean Anouilh which covers the same events as the play by Sophocles, with a much more modern bend.----!!The original play contains examples of:

* AnachronicOrder: This was actually written before ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing''.* AntiVillain: Played with. Creon has been seen as this today, but the play depicts him as far too power-mad and authoritarian for the sake of it to be a true anti-villain. * AnyoneCanDie: By the end, Antigone, Haemon and Eurydice were dead.* AcquittedTooLate: By the time Creon realizes he was being an asshole and Antigone should go free, [[spoiler:she's already killed herself]]. * BadassPacifist: Antigone: she causes a lot of disruption with no physical force.* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Polynices has been left unburied by the king Creon so that his soul cannot go on to the underworld, in punishment for his rebellion. His sister Antigone takes it upon herself to do so.* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler:A possible reason for Antigone's hanging herself rather than waiting to die in her "tomb"]].* BlindSeer: Tiresias.* BreakTheHaughty: As was the Greek standard.* BuriedAlive: Antigone is walled up in a crypt.* CainAndAbel: The backstory. ''The Progeny'' has more detail [[MissingEpisode but well...]]** All we know is that both brothers were willing to start a violent and bloody civil war over the throne, which resulted in their deaths and left Thebes in chaos.* CharacterTitle* DeathSeeker: Antigone. She views an eternal afterlife serving the gods as more desirable than a temporary life serving man. [[spoiler:Hence why, after being imprisoned, she hangs herself.]]* DesecratingTheDead: {{Discussed}}. The plot is driven by a debate regarding whether or not the eponymous character's brother, Polynices, who died trying to seize a power vacuum, deserves a proper burial or further desecration. * TheDeterminator: Antigone.* DisasterDominoes: The ending is basically [[DrivenToSuicide Suicide]] [[FromBadToWorse Dominoes]]. Poor Creon.* DownerEnding: [[CaptainObvious Obviously]].* DrivenToSuicide: Antigone, and later on, Haemon and Eurydice.* DueToTheDead: The importance of this is a major plot point.* EvilCounterpart: Creon's arc here very closely mirrors that of Oedipus in ''Theatre/OedipusRex'', but where Oedipus was motivated by the pursuit of justice and the well-being of his people, Creon is primarily concerned with protecting his own power.* EvilUncle: Creon. However, unlike many other examples this is due to his treating Antigone like he would any other who broke the law.* FaceHeelTurn: Creon appears to have undergone one of these since his appearance in ''Theatre/OedipusRex'', where he's quite sensible and sympathetic. * GreekChorus: Literally of course. They represent the people and elders of Thebes.* TheHeroDies: Antigone herself at the end.* HonorBeforeReason: Antigone.* IdiotBall:** All of the tragedy is a result of first Antigone and then Creon deciding that burying Polynices is more important than keeping Antigone alive.** Creon for not knowing that, generally, flipping off the gods by not burying the dead is a bad idea.* {{Irony}}* IronicEcho: "Afflicting men the worst of ills is lack of judgment." First said by Creon when accusing Tiresias the seer of corruption, later said by the Messenger when [[spoiler: Creon realizes that his hubris led to his son committing suicide.]]* KissingCousins: Antigone and Haemon.** Worryingly they are more closely related than ordinary first cousins, as Antigone is related to Creon through both her parents.* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Creon at the end.* NotBloodSiblings: Antigone is not only Haemon's cousin, but also his foster sister, since Creon raised Antigone, Ismene, Polynices, and Eteocles as his children after Oedipus left Thebes.* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: We don't know how the neighbouring cities feel about Thebes by the end of the play, but just about everything else happened as predicted.* PunchClockVillain: The Sentry serves an antagonistic role in arresting Antigone for trying to bury her brother. However, he is clearly doing this under Creon's orders, and after the first attempt Creon threatens to have him executed if he cannot find the one responsible.* PunishedForSympathy: Antigone's brother Polynices dies an enemy of the state, and Creon commands that Polynices' body shall not be buried. Antigone gives him a proper burial anyway, so she is sentenced to be [[BuriedAlive locked in a tomb]].* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere* SecondhandStorytelling: Per the standards of the day, all the suicides happen off-screen to be related by messengers for the audience.* ShootTheMessenger: Creon threatens to have the Sentry executed after they bring him news that their has been an attempt to bury the body, saying the guards must have been responsible. The Sentry was worried this would happen, delaying the journey and the guards chose him by lot.* StarCrossedLovers: Antigone and Haemon* TagTeamSuicide* TogetherInDeath: Antigone and Haemon at the end.* {{Tragedy}}* TragicHero: Both Creon and Ismene are bound by [[LawfulStupid their devotion to the law]]; Antigone is compelled to [[DueToTheDead give her brother a proper burial]], while Creon's responsibility as king is to stop her.* TrilogyCreep: Originally this was the fourth Theban play. ''The Progeny'', alas, [[MissingEpisode only survives in fragments]].* VillainProtagonist: Creon. Antigone may be the titular character, but Creon is arguably the real protagonist.* WellIntentionedExtremist: Creon.* YouCantFightFate: Because Oedipus did... well... [[ParentalIncest what Oedipus did]], their entire family is cursed. Excluding Ismene, for some reason.** [[FateWorseThanDeath Ismene has to live the rest of her life with the knowledge that she was too cowardly to join Antigone in burying Polynices, and that her entire family is dead]]. Notice how eager she was to share Antigone's fate, and how Antigone rebuffed her.

!!The Anouilh play contains examples of:* AnachronismStew: The 1944 version, although it's meant to fit in any place and time, mentions cigarettes, long trousers, jackets, movies, guns, sports cars, nightclubs, gangsters and evening clothes. * FatalFlaw: Antigone's complete unwillingness to bend even in the face of reason. * GreekChorus: The Chorus in this version is unique in that it is not the "voice of the elders of the city" as it would have been (and was) in the original play, but is instead something like a meta narrator who points out the inherent flaws and hypocrisy of the characters within the play* {{Tomboy}}: Antigone in this version of the play in contrast with her sister who is the traditional "feminine" character. * YouCantFightFate: Antigone is insistent throughout the play that this is the real reason she fights so hard to die, because both she and Creon have "roles" to play.